On CNBC’s Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo, I fought with John Spallanzani of GFI Group on whether Fairfax would be able to raise the billions needed to take the company private and the future of BlackBerry in general.

I’ll just say this: only one of us was right in this debate.

Check out the 5 minute mark for my favorite part of the segment, and let me know whether you think BlackBerry will survive in the comments.

Ben it’s one thing for you to take the “low hanging fruit” and point out RIMM’s device failures. Yes, you are obviously a BEAR, maybe even a paid Basher. You need to make a living too. Your Jan 31 article regarding Blackberry devices, (which hadn’t quite made it to the shelves yet) clearly summed up your intentions.Your views matter. However,writing an article about Z10 Q10 when you did certainly could have raised eyebrows. Transparency vines to mind. Why would you write an article about new devices failing before the market place had time to be the judge of that. You turned out yo be a prophet of sorts! Watsa gaining the $9 bid is still irrelevant to your dislike of Blackberry and it’s products. This resonated in your remarks on CNBC.
You didn’t out duel John S on CNBC. You didn’t argue effectively WHY Watsa wouldn’t get the $9 deal done. You were to busy downing Blackberry and pointing out how Nokia and any competitor of BB is better. John S only pointed out the scale of value in the Motorola and Nokia deals to argue why a $9 deal was reasonable. You countered by bringing up market share trends ( which may be true but are irrelevant when you are asked to focus on deal completion)
Both you and John S don’t like Blackberry ..He came off as BALANCED, by pointing out the few bullish aspects of RIMM. You cone off as just another Blackberry Panner who is incredulous that $9/share is offered. Ben, every dog has it’s day.

Ralph

Apologizes on the lack of editing / spellcheck *comes to mind not (vine). *to be a prophet

mrazu ahmed

In Saudi Arabia, BlackBerry handsets have become the must-have gizmo for Saudi youth,
enabling them to connect with members of the opposite sex in a deeply conservative society.